Quick response codes, also known as QR codes, are a type of matrix barcode used to store electronic data in an encoded format that is readable by scanners and other types of imaging devices. These scanners capture an image of the QR code, and process the image to extract and decode the data contained within. Generally, QR codes have improved storage capacity over more traditional types of barcodes, such as UPC codes. Typical QR codes can store up to 2,953 bytes of data—although this value can decrease depending on the amount of error correction desired. As such, a QR code is useful for storing a modest amount of data (e.g., a URL, bank account information, login credentials, and the like).
For electronic and/or physical documents that comprise multiple pages of data, however, it is not feasible to use a single QR code. In some methods, a QR code may be used for each page of data (or portions of pages). However, there are several drawbacks with these methods. First, each QR code is separate and independent; there is no effective way to tie the QR codes together as part of the same corpus of electronic data. Thus, when scanning the QR codes for reproduction of the data in the document, the system must interpret each QR code individually without being aware of any relationship to the other QR codes (e.g., sequence of data). In addition, a separate scan is required for each QR code—which is time-consuming and inefficient for documents that span a large number of pages.